Psychometric Testing

 Psychometric tests.

Psychometric means measurement of the mind. Psychometric tests purport to measure psychological characteristics, including personality, motivation, career interests, competences and intellectual abilities. Traditionally they take the form of pen and paper multiple-choice questionnaires but modern forms can also be presented on computer screens. Most tests require applicants to work through a large number of items in a given amount of time.

(...) Users argue that they provide valuable evidence which is not revealed by other methods. There is a widespread belief that they are somehow objective, contrasting strongly with the subjectivity of interviewing.

  Managers involved in recruiting have more possibilities for assessment available now than ever before, says Robert Edenborough of KPMG in What test should I use today? Pros and cons for recruiting managers.

  Brainbench roll out assessment tools designed to predict employee success more accurately by measuring the specific mix of personality, skills, abilities and past employment behavior for over 150 jobs. See: 'Whole Person' Hiring Assessments

 Criticism of psychological testing

Increasing use of tests has caused some disquiet amongst psychologists, particularly the proliferation of personality assessments. There are many available on the market which are promoted by people without adequate training and which make extravagant claims about their value and effectiveness. Many employers, including those with human resource specialists, do not have the ability to identify good and bad products. (...)

Pages 414-415 (pages 236-237 in the first edition) of Human Resource Management in a Business Context go into: issues of low validity for personality tests; the problem of lying; impact on ethnic minority groups; a test of language ability or personality(?) and so on.

FAQs on tests from the APA (American Psychological Association)

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